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LIBRARY 

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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


MEXICAN  PRIDE 


AND 


COMMISSIONER  CABRERA 


Dressmaking  Class  at  Girls'  Industrial  School,  Mexico  City,  D.  F. 


Published  by 

LATIN-AMERICAN  NEWS  ASSOCIATION 
1400  Broadway,  New  York  City 


Mexican  Pride  and  Commissioner  Cabrera 


HE  letter  which  the  Mexican  commissioner,  Luis 
Cabrera,  has  not  long  ago  addressed  to  "The 
New  York  Times,"  is  a  precious  document  for 
the  history  of  the  international  relations  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Latin-American 
countries. 

This  letter  is  "representative,"  as  Emerson 
might  have  said,  and  is  greatly  so,  since  it  re- 
flects not  only  the  soul  state  of  the  Mexican  people,  visible  under 
the  present  critical  circumstances,  but  also  the  latent  character- 
istics ready  to  manifest  themselves  on  the  slightest  pretext,  of 
all  the  peoples  of  Spanish  America,  which  besides  having  iden- 
tical origin  with  Mexico,  the  same  blood  and  similar  racial  fac- 
tors, the  common  ties  of  legend,  religion  and  language,  also 
have  the  same  thought  and  the  same  heart. 

Following  is  the  letter  of  Licenciado  Cabrera,  as  published 
in  the  above  mentioned  daily : 


"To  the  Editor  of  The  New  York  Times : 

I  am  referring  to  your  editorial  regarding  Mexico  in  yes- 
terday's issue.  The  attitude  which  I  am  supposed  to  have  as- 
sumed is  a  mere  conjecture.  I  refrain  from  the  personal  justi- 
fication, as  it  would  compel  me  to  disclose  the  nature  of  our 
discussion  with  the  Joint  Commission. 

The  purpose  of  this  letter  is  to  express  my  regret  that  your 
newspaper,  one  of  the  first  in  the  world,  should  stoop  to  defame 
a  diplomatic  commission  which  is  striving  to  reach  an  agree- 
ment for  the  good  of  Mexico,  as  well  as  of  the  United  States, 
by  insinuating  that  the  Mexican  delegation  or  the  Mexican 
government  expects  to  be  bribed  in  order  to  yield. 

The  ^Mexican  delegates  have  merely  asked  that  Mexico's 
sovereignty  be  respectec}f  We  have  not  requested  money,  nor 


are  we  expecting  bribes,  personally  nor  as  members  of  the  com- 
mission, nor  as  a  Government,  however  plausible  and  tactful 
the  subornation. 

The  New  York  Times  seems  to  believe  that  all  life's  trib- 
ulations can  be  salved  with  money.  We  trust  that  such  is  not  the 
opinion  of  the  American  people.  Mexicans  do  not  believe  that 
all  that  pertains  to  a  man's  honor  or  to  the  dignity  of  a  nation 
can  be  settled  by  such  means. 

Respectfully  yours, 

LUIS  CABRERA." 


In  accordance  with  the  strictest  diplomatic  canons,  and  at 
a  solemn  moment,  the  Mexican  Commissioner  Cabrera  has 
known  how  to  interpret  the  sentiment  of  the  country  he  repre- 
sents, and  within  the  protocol  has  been  compelled  to  enlighten 
the  ignorance  of  the  wise  men  who  with  their  backs  turned  to 
the  most  rudimentary  knowledge,  have,  notwithstanding,  the 
pretension  to  set  order  in  the  world,  and  to  solve  the  problems 
of  the  whole  universe  through  the  columns  of  certain  American 
dailies. 

In  truth,  whenever  Mexico,  at  the  present  time,  and  Latin- 
America  at  other  times,  has  tried  to  revindicate  their  most  es- 
sential rights,  their  most  legitimate  prerogatives,  all  that  which, 
above  the  material  part,  is  in  the  moral  order  the  spirit  of  the 
race  itself,  the  majority  of  the  American  dailies  have  answered 
to  the  noble  endeavor  of  the  Latin  soul  with  sarcastic  and  hos- 
tile comments. 

We  shall  not  discuss  at  the  present  time  how  far  journalism 
is  the  plenipotentiary  of  public  opinion ;  but  it  reflects  the  lat- 
ter, at  least  in  part ;  it  is  one  of  the  latter's  more  evident  mani- 
festations and  this  is  sufficient  to  induce  us  to  combat,  in  the 
name  of  the  highest  interests  of  the  race,  and  apropos  of  the 
masterful  note  of  Commissioner  Cabrera,  these  abberations  of  a 
not  only  popular,  but  rudely  self-sufficient  criterion. 

"The  Spanish  pride  has  once  more  prevented  the  United 
States  from  solving  the  Mexican  problem.  .   .   .  ' 

We  take  this  sentence  without  selecting  it  from  any  of  so 
many  papers  which  have  obstinately  repeated  it;  that  "Spanish 
pride"  which  is  a  star,  a  brilliant  laurel,  a  nimbus  on  the  fore- 
head of  the  race,  is,  in  the  American  opinion,  the  nucleus  of 
shadow  for  the  Latin  problem. 

That  "Spanish  pride"  which  brings  a  rictus  of  sarcasm  to 
the  sinister  masks  of  Phoenicians,  bourgeois  and  Jews,  of  all 
that  crowd  which  the  Christ  chased  from  the  temple  with  a 


whip ;  that  "pride"  which  at  the  present  time,  according  to  the 
press,  prevents  the  United  States  from  solving  the  Mexican 
problem;  that  sentiment,  embarrassing  and  obstructive,  has, 
notwithstanding,  other  high,  noble,  sacred,  venerable  names ; 
and  despite  the  Hearst  penny-a-liners,  imperiously  demands  the 
respect  of  all  mankind. 

This  "pride"  is  called  "personal  dignity"  in  the  individual ; 
"civism"  in  the  citizen;  "courage"  in  the  warrior;  "purity"  in  the 
priest;  "integrity"  in  the  magistrate;  "inspiration"  in  the  poet.  .  . 

This  "pride"  is  called  "modesty"  in  the  virgin ;  "fidelity"  in 
the  wife ;  "sentiment  of  home"  in  the  mother  and  in  the  family.  .  . 

This  "pride,"  messieurs  the  penny-a-liners,  who  wish  to 
evade  the  ineluctable  spiritual  laws,  has  such  biological  scope, 
is  so  much  a  condition  in  any  existence,  that  even  when  descend- 
ing the  zoological  scale,  while  it  may  be  called  ignorance  in  you 
(it  is  over  your  heads),  is  called  "bravery"  in  the  lion,  and 
"strength"  in  the  steely  claw  of  the  eagle! 

Perhaps  it  is  called  "sheen"  in  the  wingl^of  butterflies,  and 
"color"  in  the  feathers  of  the  peacock ! 

Its  character  is  so  universal,  that  still  descending  to  the 
merely  organic  plane,  it  is  called  "sap"  in  the  tree,  and  "per- 
fume" in. the  flower;  and  more  still,  it  is  such  a  condition  of  our 
existence,  that  it  burrows  under  the  earth  and  is  called  "mol- 
ecular affinity"  in  the  minerals ;  and,  ascending  the  cycles,  scal- 
ing heaven,  incorporating  its  divine  essence  in  the  sideral  re- 
gions, perhaps  in  its  supreme  flight  it  becomes  "light"  in  stars ! 

*     *     * 

In  such  manner  is  that  "pride"  a  peremptory  condition  of 
life  itself! 

In  the  case  of  Mexico,  it  is  called  "sentiment  of  independ- 
ence and  national  suzerainty,"  the  first  and  only  object — as  Com- 
missioner Cabrera  declares — of  the  Mexican  representatives  at 
the  debates  in  Atlantic  City. 

In  the  letter  which  we  quote,  we  find  these  two  assertions : 

"The  New  York  Times  seems  to  believe  that  all  life's 
tribulations  can  be  salved  with  money." 

»  "Mexicans  do  not  believe  that  all  that  pertains  to  a 
man's  honor  or  to  the  dignity  of  a  nation  can  be  settled  by 
such  means." 

Thesis,  antithesis ;  anverse,  reverse ;  two  poles.  .   .   . 

Onjihe  one  side,  blind  faith  without  metaphor,  absolutely 
in  the  dark,  substituting  sight,  which  can  dwdl  on  horizons,  by 
touch  which  gropes;  exchanging  the  pupil  for  the  hesitating  an- 


tennae  or  for  the  viscous  tentacle.  On  the  other  side,  faith  in 
the  destiny  of  the  Mother-country,  and  a  mystic,  fanatical  love 
of  liberty.  Who  are  right ;  the  somber,  materialistic  atheists,  or 
the  enlightened  mystics? 

When  in  doubt,  said  the  philosopher,  let  us  be  on  God's  side ! 

Let  us  be  on  the  side  of  the  Ideal,  although  you,  messieurs 
the  penny-a-liners,  the  jingoes,  the  "yellow"  editors,  call  it 
"pride."  We  prefer  to  keep  the  "ideal,"  the  fire  of  which  we 
have  the  right  to  exhibit,  as  you  exhibit  the  glitter  of  your 
gold,  that  "condensed  force"  in  your  vaults.  You  should  re- 
spect our  ideal  which  is  our  only  but  supreme  force,  and  not 
try  to  analyze  it  nor  to  rectify  it  by  means  of  your  parsimonious 
criticism,  because  the  Ideal  does  not  react  under  nitric  acid,  as 
your  vile  gold  does.  .  .  . 

You,  who  obey  matter  only  and  its  appetites,  remember 
that  Compte  forbade  to  investigate  the  composition  of  celestial 
bodies.  And  the  Ideal,  messieurs  the  yellow  journalists,  (which 
is  the  color  of  envy  and  of  sulphur)  is  something  more,  is  much 
more  than  any  star.  .  .  . 

We  are  with  the  Ideal,  and  with  Science,  and  with  modern 
thought.  To  believe  that  everything  can  be  purchased  and  sold, 
to  profess  that  life  consists  only  of  three  physiological  acts  (the 
three  gerunds  of  the  Carthusian),  and  that  its  object  is  a  com- 
mercial exchange,  might  have  been  explicable  when  the  ma- 
terialistic tyranny  of  the  philosophic  schools  in  Manchester — 
several  years  ago — overburdened  the  mind  when  Spencer  had 
cut  the  wings  of  human  spirit. 

But  now  those  wings  have  grown  again,  as  the  palms  after 
they  have  been  cut  down ;  now,  when  the  blossoming  of  all  mod- 
ern philosophies,  when  the  purest  springs  of  human  thought 
salute  the  mystic  renaissancevof  spiritualism  as  a  new  spring- 
time, as  a  radiant  sun ;  and  we,  the  Latin-Americans,  are  on  the 
side  of  the  Ideal,  high  up,  and  have  the  most  scientific  concep- 
tion of  the  life  down  here.  .  .  . 

That  "Mexican  pride,"  that  delicate  sentiment  of  the  Moth- 
er-country's dignity  which  Commissioner  Cabrera  so  emphati- 
cally asserts,  has  been  revealed  for  a  long  time  past  as  vital  and 
as  constant  as  the  palpitation  of  a  heart. 

When  one  of  the  plutocrats  of  Wall  Street,  actuated  by  a 
philanthropy  which  is  merely  a  form  of  remorse,  offered  two 
million  dollars  to  improve  the  sanitary  conditions  of  Mexico, 
Venustiano  Carranza,  the  First  Chief,  answered  with  these 
phrases,  which  still  re-echo  with  the  Spartan  sonority  of  her6ic 
times : 

"We  can  treat  our  own  wounds." 


And  he  added: 

"We  prefer  to  suffer  in  our  bodies  than  in  our  spirits. 
We  cannot  accept  your  help." 

Stunning  sentences  which  Mexico  will  no  doubt  some  day 
chisel  on  the  granite  of  a  monument.  Sentences  which  have 
their  genesis  in  the  stoic  interrogation  of  the  tortured  Cuauh- 
temoc:  "Am  I  perchance  on  a  bed  of  roses!"  Sentences  in  one 
word,  which  by  their  talismanic  virtue,  inspired  Commissioner 
Cabrera  to  write  the  intense  and  significant  letter  on  which  we 

comment. 

*     *     *     * 

Let  all  the  Edison  phonographs  multiply  Shylock's  voice 
claiming  that  everything  is  purchasable !  The  Mexican  mother- 
country,  with  her  heart  pierced  by  knives  as  a  Mater  Dolorosa, 
or  as  the  panoply  of  a  hero,  will  find  strength  to  say :  "Perhaps, 
but  I  do  not  sell  my  honor." 

And  she  will  raise  her  pride,  her  Mexican  pride,  as  the  im- 
mortal Gascongnian  hero  raised  his  immaculate  "Panache." 

But  in  this  case,  the  "panache"  is  egregious,  luminous,  eter- 
nal, as  the  snowy  top  of  a  volcano ! 

JOSE  JUAN  TABLADA. 


Does  Mexico  Interest  You? 

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International  Labor  Forum "I x 

Intervene  in  Mexico,  Not  to  Make,  but  to  End  War,  urges  I       nir. 

Mr.  Hearst,  with  reply  by  Holland f 

The  President's  Mexican  Policy,  by  F.  K.  Lane ' 

The  Religious  Question  in  Mexico \ 

A  Reconstructive  Policy  in  Mexico. >      0.10 

Manifest  Destiny / 

What  of  Mexico \ 

Speech  of  General  Alvarado >      0.10 

Many  Mexican  Problems / 

Charges  Against  the  Diaz  Administration \ 

Carranza    >      0.10 

Stupenduous  Issues   ; 

Minister  of  the  Catholic  Cult ) 

Star  of  Hope  for  Mexico >      0.10 

Land  Question  in  Mexico ) 

Open  Letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  Chicago,  111. ) 

How  We  Robbed  Mexico  in  1848,  by  Robert  H.  Howe >      0.10 

What  the  Mexican  Conference  Really  Means ; 

The  Economic  Future  of  Mexico 

We  also  mail  any  of  these  pamphlets  upon  receipt  of  5c  each. 


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